Spike lay leisurely under the leaves of a grand oak tree, the summer sun falling gently on his scales as a light breeze blew by. It was only a month or two until fall came and yet despite the official first day of fall being only a few weeks away, today was surprisingly warm. Spike relished the feel of the sun, being cold blooded, it was always relaxing to him to sunbathe. It was one of his favorite pass times when he was finished with work for the day. He often did this to relax, particularly after a stressful or busy day.
He was the personal assistant to Twilight Sparkle, a unicorn who studied under the tutelage of Princess Celestia, the ruler of the land. Twilight had been in her studies for nearly sixteen years now and through all this, Spike had been with her the whole time.
Things had changed in Ponyville, some pretty big changes, most notably were the marriages of their friends to colts from in and around the town. Of the original group, only two of them remained unmarried, Twilight and Rarity. Twilight had been so engrossed in her studies that she hadn't found time to date and Rarity had declared over three quarters of her suitors as unfit to be her husband.
Spike had a feeling, and hadn't shared it, that Rarity was looking for a mate who fulfilled all her requirements, wealthy, kind, handsome, powerful, with an eye for fashion. So far, only two of the ten or so suitors had come close to doing so, but she had turned down their proposals with almost cold politeness. Most everyone in the town believed that she had commitment issues and the gossip had sparked a small scandal when Rarity had thrown a customer from the boutique when she had over heard them gossiping about her.
Spike sighed and stretched languidly, moved a little to be back in direct sunlight, he knew that this fall would be particularly chilly, mostly due to the early chill that had started to set in. He was determined to spend as much time as he could in the sun until the temperature got really chilly. After another hour or so he sighed and gave up trying to stay in the ever shifting sunlight and got to his feet dusting himself off as he did so. He was fully grown now, standing a head taller than Twilight, it having been 17 years since Discords defeat. Twilight had said that without magic or the power of greed, he would get no bigger than he was now and he was okay with that. He often liked to jokingly pat Twilight on the head whenever she finished with one of her frequent lengthy talks and it never failed to annoy her.
Twilight had grown into her own over the years, though you'd never be able to tell by her appearance, which hadn't changed much. She was certainly more knowledgeable than she had been seventeen years earlier, but she also had grown more beautiful with each year that passed. Spike froze at that last thought, It was true, that as Twilight had matured, she had grown increasingly beautiful, but so had everyone else, Rarity in particular, but to hear his own thoughts complimenting that fact. He had never actually thought about Twilight's beauty let alone compliment it.
He shrugged simply as he sat up, noticing as he did so that the sun was setting to the tree line now, he had probably head back to town. He turned toward the town, the sun warming his back as he trudged off toward it. He noticed Applejack running along the field to his right with a handsome stallion chasing after her, her giggles evident from even this distance.
She had been the last to get married, due mainly to her older brother. He had jealously protected his sister, usually with his presence alone, but when this stallion had shown no intention of being dissuaded from his pursuing her hoof in marriage, it had gone way past heated words. Spike remembered it clearly as Applejack's older brother had returned from that confrontation with a busted nose and black eye and told his sister that he'd given her suitor permission to marry her. Spike hoped very much that when he decided it was time to settle down, that his fiance wouldn't have a brother or father like that.
He stopped suddenly, there he went again, rhapsodizing about the relationships and marriages of his friends and wondering when it'd be his turn. It was weird, he had never much wondered about it, but as time went on, particularly in the past couple of months, he'd dwelt on it frequently. He unconsciously turned toward the library that was his and Twilight's house, the lights blazing as usual. He shook his head in amusement, sometimes he wondered if she'd eat if he didn't make her do so. He opened the door and ducked a set of carving knives flew past him. "What the..?!"
Twilight stood at her desk feverishly flipping through the pages of an innumerable number of books, obviously looking for a counter spell for what ever it was she had done. He looked around the room, and it didn't take much to surmise what had happened, earlier that day, he had asked Twilight if he could have the day off to enjoy the sun before it got cold again. She had agreed, with her usual cheer, and Spike had left earlier this morning. From what he could see, she had attempted to do all of his chores by magic but had failed to cast the spell correctly.
Dishes were flying into the sink so hard they shattered, then repaired by magic they'd get scrubbed by a wash brush that was spinning like a rotary blade, sometimes shattering the plates again and forcing them to be repaired again. The carving knives that had flown by him was a different matter all together, pots, pans, and assorted cutlery flew around the kitchen like a cyclone, often smashing things or flying lethally trough the air. It appeared she'd been trying to make dinner as well, even as he watched two of the knives flew at a bowl of fruit, seeming of a mind of their own, and diced the fruit, bowl and all, into a fine paste before flying like bladed rockets to join the washing before getting propelled by the spinning scrub brush into the bookshelf.
If that wasn't enough, the entire wash bin, for bedding and dress clothes was suspended in the air with all of the washing in it, spinning around like a top, creating a loud whooshing sound as he heard the vortex of water inside. Spike raised his own claw and commanded the magic to cease, his claw glowed blue as everything that was magically controlled fell to the floor with a loud crash. Twilight let out a sigh of relieve as she said, "Whew, I'm glad that spell worked, now to clean this up before Spike gets back."
He cleared his throat sharply and she wheeled around to see the very person whom she didn't want to see at that moment. "Spike! Oh, I'm...I'm So Sorry!"
Spike stood there, just staring at the pony, she had managed in a few hours to completely destroy the entire downstairs of their home. He shook his head and asked, "Twilight, what on earth were you doing?" Twilight looked away shamefully as she stammered, "I was...I was trying to do the chores."
If Spike had known that things would have gotten this bad, he'd have done without the day of sunbathing. Twilight looked as if she was about ready to apologize again and Spike headed her off, "Don't worry about it, I'll get this fixed."
Spike closed his eyes and focused his own magic, his claws emitting a radiant blue aura as the rooms began repairing itself. Dishes were mended, knives sharpened and all as they flew back into their respectful places, all the bedding was wrung out and dried before being neatly fluffed and sent back upstairs. Books that were damaged mended instantly and all mess and debris vanished. Finally with a last loud thud, the washing drum thudded back down into the corner of the room and the room was clean. Twilight looked like she was about to cry as she sat back down at her desk with a soft, "Thank you."
Spike knew that she wasn't so much angry at the state of the house, but at the fact that she couldn't, even with all her training, use her magic to cook or clean. She could summon and control elemental avatars but couldn't wash a dish without smashing it. Spike walked over to Twilight and gingerly removed the book from in front of her. She hadn't been reading it, in fact she hadn't even been seeing it. He put a claw on her shoulder and she sighed wearily, "Spike, how do you use magic so easily?"
Spike was of a species of dragon who was exceptionally gifted in magic, and could use it at will, normally with thought and willpower. Twilight already knew that Spike was more capable than her with magic because it was in his blood but it didn't stop her from being slightly jealous of him. Spike didn't want her to be jealous of him, she was a dear friend, and he wanted nothing but the best for her. "Twilight, lets go to bed for tonight. Lets worry about your studies tomorrow."
Twilight shook her head and said, "I can't Spike, I have to finish reading this by tomorrow. I have a whole report to write about it."
Spike smiled and pulled her gently away from the desk, "No, your going to bed. I'll move back in your room to make sure you stay if I have to."
She laughed gently and said, "No thanks Spike, I'll be good and sleep."
Spike smiled as she headed upstairs, he trusted that she'd do the right thing and rest. Maintaining all the spells she had been doing when he had arrived had to have taken a toll on her. He moved over to the stairs, hearing the sound of the bathtub running to make sure she wasn't coming back down before pulling out ink and parchment and beginning to write.
Dear Princess Celestia,
Twilight is suffering from overwork, today she almost burst into tears when she failed to do my work with magic. I request that she be allowed time off from her studies and given time to relax. If need be I'll assist her with her studies when her rest period is over.
Spike
Spike rolled up the scroll and tied it shut before lighting it with his fire breath and sending it to Celestia. He didn't know whether or not he'd get an immediate response from the princess, but Spike was adamant that Twilight would get time off. He continued to do things around the house, dusting and organizing things mostly but before to long spike belched and a scroll appeared in the air. He grabbed it and unrolled it to read.
Spike,
I haven't given Twilight an assignment in three weeks, I told her to take it easy but she is still sending me homework, study assignments and reports. Please, for her own health. Do anything to keep her from working. Take her on vacation, hide her books, do what ever it takes. She will have the remaining seasons of this year off. This is a declaration, not a suggestion.
Yours sincerely,
Celestia
Spike was taken aback by this. Celestia had directly ordered Twilight to take time off and Twilight had continued working anyway. Spike rolled the scroll up and went up stairs, intending to confront Twilight about this but as he entered her room, what he saw disarmed him. She lay curled up in her bed, dozing peacefully while the newly risen moon shone in through the window. Now given the chance, he inspected her closely taking notice of the bags under her eyes, she had obviously hidden them with magic. Spike sighed in exasperatedly and closed the window shutters to keep out the light. As he was leaving, he made sure to grab every single one of her study books and took them downstairs. Putting them all into a large chest and putting a spell on it to keep it shut. He also did the same for all the books in the entire library. Until he said otherwise, she'd be unable to do anymore studying.
She could get angry at him, yell at him, or throw him out of the house, but for her, he'd endure. He wouldn't let her cause herself harm over her studies. He went back upstairs passing by her room. As he did so he heard a distinct sound from her room and looked in, Twilight seemed to be curled into a tighter ball than before and was muttering to herself in her sleep. He pushed the door open gently when he heard his name uttered, "Spike...I'm sorry, I'm so Sorry."
He frowned as he sat down gently next to her putting a claw gently on her shoulder, trying to comfort her. It had no affect as a tear rolled her cheek. It was clear to him that she still was feeling bad about the disaster earlier. She continued to ask for his forgiveness in her dreams before Spike leaned forward and whispered, "Twilight, I forgive you, now please rest peacefully."
That did it, Twilight smiled gently and relaxed again, her mind slipping into a peaceful slumber. With a final pat Spike left the bedroom stopping at the door to say,"Sleep well, I'll see you in the morning."